Importing members or plots from a spreadsheet

If your members or plots are already in a spreadsheet, you do not need to type them in again.

Save your spreadsheet as a CSV

Allotmin needs a CSV file. Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets can all produce one — there are step-by-step instructions on the import page itself, under "How do I get a CSV out of my spreadsheet?".

This step matters. A Numbers or Excel file renamed to end in .csv is not a CSV, and Allotmin will refuse it and tell you so. Use your spreadsheet's own Export or Save As.

Column headings

For members, put a heading at the top of each column. Allotmin recognises them by name in any order, and does not mind about capital letters, spaces or punctuation — Email, email and E-mail all work. Anything it does not recognise is simply skipped, and it tells you which columns those were before you commit to anything.

The only column you must have is the member's name.

It will also take email, phone, address, notes, the date their tenancy was signed, the plot size they want, their National Allotment Society number, and any custom fields you have set up.

If you would rather start from a file with the headings already in place, use the "Download a template" link on the import page.

Check the preview

Nothing is saved until you confirm. The preview screen shows you exactly what will be created, flags anything odd, and points out duplicate email addresses — both people already in Allotmin and repeats within the file itself.

Duplicates are a warning rather than a refusal, because two members of the same household genuinely can share an address. But it is also what tells you that you have uploaded the same file twice.

Doing it again later

You can import as many times as you like. For plots, uploading a spreadsheet with a plot number that already exists updates that plot rather than refusing it, so adding a column and re-importing works.